


Alt. POVs

by GlitterFairy_21225



Series: Life is Strange. Watching it is Stranger.... Debatably. [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, Ready or Not (2019), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: BAMF Grace Le Domas, Ben Hanscom & Richie Tozier Are Best Friends, Ben Hanscom is a Good Friend, Companion Piece, Homophobia, I'm not doing Stan's death twice, M/M, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Purgatory, Richie Tozier is a Mess, Richie Tozier's Internalized Homophobia, Temporary Amnesia, Warnings May Change, Watching the Movie, Watching the Show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:07:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23483575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitterFairy_21225/pseuds/GlitterFairy_21225
Summary: From my Watching the Movie fics, scenes in which I had serious internal conflict on who I wanted to give them perspective over. Told from a different perspective!1. (IT2) Richie reacts to the hate crime.2. (IT2) Ben reacts to the dinner party.3. (IT2) Stan deals with the aftermath of Richie's outing.4. (IT2) Arlene Hanscom reacts to Ben's school scene.5. (IT2) Bill reacts to his friend's spider-head.6. (RoN) Daniel reacts and deals with Grace pulling her card.7. (TUA) Five reacts to his first interactions with his siblings after decades.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom & Richie Tozier, Daniel Le Domas & Grace Le Domas, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy) & Everyone, The Losers Club - Relationship
Series: Life is Strange. Watching it is Stranger.... Debatably. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1686676
Comments: 95
Kudos: 197





	1. Richie and the Hate Crime

**Author's Note:**

> Someone commented that they were hoping I'd give multiple characters perspective over the same scene. That actually came at a good time, because I had always planned for Richie to have this scene, but I also wanted the parents to have POV over their kid's introduction.
> 
> I don't wanna make the second movie fic longer than it has to be (three fucking hours) so I decided to just make a side story.

**Richie's POV**

Richie chokes when he sees two men kissing. He quickly crosses his arms, wishing he could just disappear. First Ben figures him out, now this. Was this turtle out to get him?

"Holy shit!" Eddie shrieks, his eyes wide and buggy as they look at the men.

"That's good!" Mrs. U says to them. Richie has to admit he feels comforted by both her gentle tone and the fact that she also doesn't hate gay people. His people now. "This means the world has gotten more inclusive. It's a good thing." A good thing. A good thing. A good thing.

"Good? What if they have AIDS!" Eddie looks scared. Not a good thing. Eddie is scared. What if Eddie gets scared of him?

The fucking psychic next to him must know he's freaking out inside behind the neutral expression he's totally forcing, because Ben says. "Uh, I'm pretty sure AIDS only happens when... you... Just being gay doesn't make you have AIDS." 

Well that's fucking relieving. Richie doesn't say it out loud though. But maybe if he never gets any of that, Eddie will still want to be his friend. Fuck. Yeah. Okay, that's good, that's okay. It's all gonna work out. 

Except the gay couple just got bullied by some wannabe Bowers gang. They still fill him with dread, so job well done, but holy shit how short is that bully? Still, Richie can't deal with the names they call them. To Richie's luck, he's never actually been called any bad names, no doubt because of the lady's man mask he's successfully been embodying for the past couple months, and having the brains to keep his need to cuddle as an at-home (his or his friends') activity.

Wait Meg Ryan is still relevant in twenty eight years? Mom owes Mrs. Denbrough twenty bucks.

The gay people are walking on a bridge. Not the Kissing Bridge. Aka; the bridge Richie will never be able to have sex in a car next to. But it still makes him think about how much Richie is going to be deprived of now, even shit he never even thought of before now. He'll never get married, or hold hands in public, or other crap Richie shouldn't have to be thinking about yet.

**"I just wanna be with you. I don't care. New York. Derry. Whatever."**

New York. New York is better. Maybe the world is better for gay people, but anything is better than Derry. Especially for the way those guys just flung slurs at them. Still... it's sweet how they clearly love each other. Love. Gay can be love, that's what Richie learned from Eddie. But he learned it, so that means the others don't know that.

"Aw." Richie says experimentally. "You have to admit that's sweet, Eds. Not that I'd ever do that. You know my heart belongs to your mother." He adds to lead him away from the truth. He sees Ben shoot him a look that says, 'Oh, honey. You a fool.'

"Beep beep." Eddie says, but he's thinking about something else. "But my mom said-!"

"Your mom said a lot of things." Richie is quick to say, because fuck Eddie's mom. Ha. "My mom said I was a good singer. Moms lie."

"It's true, I lie to him all the time." Mom adds, like that's helpful. 

".... All the time?" Richie asks. Okay, he didn't need that. He can't push it further though, because those assholes from earlier are back. 

They're beating the shit out of them. Gay people existed in the same space as them, and now they're using them as punching bags. That's Richie's future if he's not careful, if he lets the wrong person know. So no one else can know. No one.

"Can we skip this?" Ben blurts out, and oh thank god for him.

"Why?" Eddie asks. Oh shit. He doesn't even care. He's okay with- "I mean it's horrible but we've seen so much crap already. Why now?" Oh yeah. That's a good point.

"Exactly, we've already seen so much, and.... I really did hope we wouldn't have to see so much awfulness after the last movie." Ben tries to explain. Excuses, Richie knows. Jesus on a shitter, Ben is too good for this world.

Bill speaks up. "I d-don't think anyone here wants more violence, but-" Ben looks genuinely annoyed, and Richie wonders if it's just because he's getting in the way. ~~If~~ When Eddie gets a girlfriend, he would be hurt, and so he gets that Ben needs time and space, and that Bill is trying to give it to him, which is why he shuts the fuck up.

It only makes it worse though when they throw Adrian off the bridge. Who the fuck does that? He's a person! A human person who just loved another person. Fuck. Fuck, why did they think it was okay to do that in public? Now one of them is dying and the other is devastated. 

"Richie, are you okay?" Eddie asks worried. No. Oh shit, he didn't pretend hard enough.

"WAIT!" Ben yells. Richie jumps, because he's right next to him and wasn't expecting that. But you know, at least he's taken Eddie's attention off of him. "Uh... My first cousin is gay... An-and I don't want that to happen to my first cousin, or-or any other... gay person ever." 

There's a secret message behind those words that's meant for just Richie to say, 'Hey bitch, I'd also be super unhappy if you were ever murdered for being openly lovey dovey and fucking meant it'. He feels so fucking special. 

Everybody gives Ben their sympathies, which surprises Richie. Of course it's because of someone is related to a queer, not actually is one, but everyone is being so nice about it. Eddie even nudges him. He looks at him confused. Doesn't Eddie dislike gay people? Or... maybe he does? Maybe if Richie never tells him about his big gay crush on him, Eddie won't totally hate him! Eddie gestures for him to say something to Ben.

Richie turns to give him a quick word of comfort, a genuine to cause he deserves it, but Richie is distracted by a very familiar demonic clown appearing in Adrian's line of sight. "Shit." 

The boyfriend watches as It bites into Adrian from land. Shit. Shit. Pennywise is a homophobe too? Wait no, he just likes eating all people, that just includes queer people. 

A shitload of those motherfucking red balloons flood over the screen, and across the bridge. The narrator comes back and it shows some apartment somewhere. He can already see Eddie straining himself from scolding whoever owns the place for leaving the fridge opened. Aw. He's making progress.

"Grandpa, there's a picture of you!" Mike says in surprise. Oh, it's Mike from the future. And damn good loo- that's gay! Wait, he is gay. But Mike is his friend, and he's already made thing weird from his side with Eddie.

Future Mike, who Richie's pretty sure isn't supposed to have access to the crime scene, fucks around the crime scene and no one gives a shit. 

**"Sometimes... It comes back."**

"Well that's on the nose." Richie mumbles, because it's true. Only Eddie and Ben can hear, and they both nod, because even they have to admit he has a point. That's so rare though. 

So It comes back, and Richie and all his friends promised to come back too. But as adults now. He wonders if he's any less fucked up in the future, and if he even wants himself to be if it means his dirty little secret comes out to all his friends.

 **It: Chapter Two**

And the font is really colorful and weird, but Richie knows that whatever comes after this is a fucked up combination of fear, dark humor, scaring the shit out of Richie, friendship, tears, and worst of all; fucking CLOWNS!!! God, Richie hates clowns.

"This is gonna suck." Richie mutters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not kidding, nobody ask me to do this for Stan's death. Okay, so I chose to have the POVs to make things feel tighter, and to get a better grip on the character voices, so it's pretty interesting to see how an old man who's faced so much hate sees this scene compared to a closeted gay twelve year old.
> 
> Don't expect too much content from this story. This because I can't think of too many scenes where I'd have as much indecisiveness over who gets POV.


	2. Ben and the Ship-Coded Reunion Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. It's me. I don't anyone to be disappointed, so I'll just tell you that it starts with Bev and Ben's reunion, and cuts off with Bev and Bill talking, so just before the Pennywise talk starts.

**Ben's POV**

**"Is there a password or something?"**

Ben takes a deep breath, watching himself greet Bev, looking so lost and so beautiful as an adult.

"You remember that? That was twenty seven years ago for you. Plus a long bout of amnesia." Bev points out, and god it sounds so lame of him. Bev doesn't even recognize him in the movie!

So he just shrugs, hoping his face doesn't give away how embarrassed he is. "It's when we met for the first time. Most of the time people either ignore me or call me names. It must've stuck out."

It's not a lie. Probably why he likes her so much. Before Derry, no one ever gave Ben the time of day unless they were family or wanted to give him shit for his appearance. But Bev was so nice to him. Is so nice to him. Her liking Bill doesn't change that.

But that doesn't make it hurt to see himself hugging her as reminders of their first encounters flash over the screen. Even as fondness blooms in his chest, it hurts to know it will lead to nothing. So it's his relief when Richie interrupts them. 

'Least I can do,' Richie mouths to him, and Ben remembers trying to cover for Richie during that horrible first scene. He's thinking of ways to tell Richie he doesn't need to pay him back when Eddie interrupts them.

"That joke doesn't even make sense, dumbass."

"Spare me, Eddie Spagetti, I look like a cross between a goblin and a baby that was left out to scorch in the hot African sun." Richie says, which renders Eddie in shock. Ben is caught between smiling at Richie hugging them both, and keeping up with that analogy. "Compared to Ken and Sixteen Candles, mirrors must be breaking when I'm around."

"That- that is literal- I don't even know! What the fuck are you talking about?" Eddie asks, and Ben realizes that Richie's feelings are definitely requited. Lucky.

"Hard truths, my love." Richie shakes his head. He calls Eddie his 'love'? How is Ben the first person to pick up on this? "Hard, painful truths."

"He's just kidding, don't worry about it." Maggie whispers to Richie's father, who resembles Future Richie a scary amount, resulting in Eddie shutting up. Ben frowns. He didn't think Richie's joke would make his dad feel bad. As awesome as it is that he grew up to be skinny, and muscular, Ben really wishes his future self looks more like his dad. 

It cuts to Richie ringing a gong, declaring a meeting is starting, and then pointing to Ben and mouthing something he can't make out.

"Alcohol!" Richie beams as they clink drink in celebration.

"We're adults, we can do that!" Bev says cheerfully before any of their parents can scold them. They still look upset but say nothing else.

Richie immediately starts asking about Eddie's wife, and Ben sympathizes. Of course Richie is more the type to make a joke about Eddie being in a relationship, but Ben knows from experience that it must hurt, even if Richie won't admit it. Then they ask if Richie's married too, and he says yes.

Can gay people get married in the future? That's so great for Richie. But what about that 'girlfriend'?

**"Your mom and I are very happy together."**

Oh right. Well, at least Future Richie isn't gonna out Present Richie.

"Motherfucker!" Eddie glares at him.

"Yes, Eddie Spagetti, yes I am." Richie says in all seriousness. 

**"You're like, you're hot." "It's true." "No, you're like every single Brazilian soccer player all wrapped into one."**

Richie looks ready to apologize to him, but Ben just smiles at him through the feeling of heat on his face, holding back laughter. Especially because it looks like Eddie is also checking him out. They're both into guys, and each other, and he really hopes it ends well for him. 

Ben wonders if he knows that Richie's gay in the future, because under normal circumstances he would be so embarrassed. If it took a two hour long movie for him to figure it out, he's pretty sure he could figure it out over the course of a summer, plus who knows how long Ben stayed in Derry after that. Then again, he didn't think he'd still be in Derry by summer. But there's no way Mom stayed with Kyle for too long after that.

He shouldn't think about that, so he takes a page out of Richie's book.

'Brazilian soccer players?' Ben mouths to him. Richie turns red himself, and discretely flips him off.

Ben tries even harder to hold back laughter, but his mood dampens hard when Stan is brought up again.

They're all clearly concerned that he's not there but they try to come up with an explanation, and try to go back to the happy mood. "I'm sorry." Eddie says, sounding remorseful.

"Why?" Stan asks, sounding almost numb. "I'm not there, no one's first thought is gonna be that I killed myself." Ben flinches.

"Don't talk about it like that!" Mr. Uris orders. Stan looks like he wants to respond, but decides against it. Ben feels for him. Mom still doesn't let him talk about his dad, but he knows that somethings can be to hard for parents to talk about. He hopes Stan can understand that.

Maybe it's just Ben, but it seems like the movie is focusing more and more on Richie and Eddie. Wow, he teases Eddie a lot, doesn't he? Everything is back to the fun scene it was earlier, complete with a toast, and then-

Wait, does Bev like Richie!?

Oh, it's just a joke. For the best all things considered. 

Eddie and Richie are arm wrestling when Eddie shouts. **"Let's take off our shirts and kiss!"**

He can't help it. He starts laughing. Richie looks at him with panicked eyes, and Ben would love to help him out, but he can't stop. Richie's look of fear turns to a glare before he turns back to Eddie with a fake look of mockery.

"Eddie Spagetti!?" Richie splutters, sounding like a woman scorned. "That is no way to treat a dame in a public venue!"

"Shut up!" Eddie squeaks in what must be embarrassment. "I- it's just the alcohol! I was obviously trying to trip you up, dickwad. You've only done the same like five hundred times."

"Five hundred?" Ben repeats. How much of the same? Ben wouldn't put it past Richie to use a similar tactic.

"Five hundred." 

Ben's smile dips when he sees Bill and Bev talking about her career. **"That's our line. My and my... husband."**

And he's angry again. He really will kill her dad and that Tom guy if he's ever left alone with either of them. Maybe even both at the same time. Bev really deserves so much better than the assholes she always ends up with. Even if seeing her with Bill hurts, Ben trusts him, even as he innocently asks follow up questions about her marriage.

He sees himself looking sadly at them and sighs. He's like forty and still not over her. Of course, it's Bev, who could just get over a girl like her, but it's so sad. He really hopes the film won't make a big deal out of it.

They compliment his movie, although weirdly insult his endings. Again. And then they stare at each other, with Ben in the background staring at them. 

The future sucks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still plan on posting an Alt. story from Chapter One, but I don't know when that will be.  
> By the way, does anyone know what Richie was mouthing when he pointed Ben after he rung that gong.


	3. Stan and the Idiotic Gays (Temporarily Excluding Richie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because we all needed some content from some fucking boys who weren't raised by a literal monster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I realize it's not the POV anyone asked for but... I mean, I wanted to. So...? Look chapter 13 is gonna be fucking difficult, so I just need a bit of supportive Losers for a second. I swear that if I ever grow a pair, I'll do Richie for this chapter.

**Stan's POV**

In a second all the puzzle pieces lay out before him, and connecting them together is almost too easy. The way Richie plays up his so-called attraction for women, that glance he gave the kid, the way he'd always flinch whenever specific nasty words were thrown at anyone else.

"Oh this makes so much sense!"

Shit.

Literally everyone gives him a 'wtf' look. Including both of his parents. He blushes, but soon all their eyes are back on Richie, and soon enough they all come in with their questions at once, so that Stan can barely keep up. Stan has his own questions, but based on the shake of his mother's head, he stays quiet for the moment.

And then Richie is running for it. Ben holds back the troops from going after him just long enough to make it through a- Where the fuck did that door come from?

Without thinking, Stan is on his feet, making it to the door Richie went through.

"Richie? Richie, open the door!" Maggie knocks repeatedly, looking scared to the bone. "We just need to talk about this, okay? Richie? Please?"

"Was this here when I said, 'Any idea where a door might be?'" Mrs. Denbrough asks, and Stan gets where she's coming from.

"Nope." Stan answers, then tries for himself. "Richie, you need to come ou-" Come out. "Oh. Sneaky turtle." 

"Everyone back off!" Ben demands in a way more forceful than Stan's ever seen him. "He will come out of the- ... Closet?" 

"Closet." Richie says, though it's hard to hear with the door in the way. But of course the Turtle gave him a fucking closet to hide in.

"- closet when he wants to."

"That's right, Ben." Mrs. Hanscom says proudly.

Stan sighs, but he gets that they have a point, and he guesses everyone else does to. Maggie looks ready to protest but Went wraps an arm firmly around her. He lets his mother lead him away, leaving only Ben behind like a security guard.

"Wait, so R-Richie likes b-boys now?" Old news, Bill.

"What?!" Eddie shrieks, causing everyone to jump. "He can't be! He's my best friend! He wouldn't-"

Wha- He doesn't... "You saw how he looked at that jerk at the arcade!" Stan reminds him. 

And now that Stan really thinks about it, fuck that jerk even harder. Okay, they need to look after who the fuck Richie's swooning over. It is just like Richie to have a fucking thing for bad boys, but there are just too many assholes in this town.

"He's just a good friend!" Eddie says in desperate denial. "Half the shit that comes out of his mouth is about some girl!"

"A good cover." Dad hums, as if only just now realizing that Richie does in fact use his brain for more than raunchy quips. 

"Smart boy." Mr. Hanlon says, and Stan would never admit it, but he agrees. 

He has nothing against gay people, but was not expecting one of his friends since infancy to be one. And Richie's always sounded like an idiot, for him to talk about sex and girls would make sense, and they'd never question if Richie ever seemed a little less into girls or a little too into a boy, because the girl interest was right there. 

Smart fucking boy.

"Eddie." Bev says as though talking to a toddler. "He cried."

"He got bullied!" Stan flinches, trying not to think about the word that was thrown at his best friend.

"W-when has b-b-bullying ever m-made R-Richie act l-like that?" Bill asks, looking ready to cry. Stan assumes he's also thinking about it. Fucking Bowers. Richie must be so freaked right now, and they can't even change it, because it's a word directed at Richie that present Richie already heard.

"He was alone!" Eddie's voice pulls him from his thoughts. But Stan can see the realization crash into Eddie. But suddenly Stan realizes that this isn't a good thing. 

"Look!" Ben grabs their attention. "Listen, Richie is still Richie... except that he didn't mean those jokes, but I'm pretty sure you don't like those jokes so it's fine. It's just a matter of who he loves." 

Exactly, Stan smiles. That's similar to what his mom said when Stan first heard about queer people. They all know about AIDS and shit, but he's not sure if his friends' parents took the time to explain shit like this the way his mom did. He knows for a fact Sonia Kaspbrak sure as hell didn't-

"Well then why can't he love a girl?" Eddie exclaims, breathing proof of her shitty parenting.

"Why can't you love a boy?" Mrs. Hanscom asks. Like mother, like son....

....

"Wait a sec!" Stan says in shock. Eddie... loving a boy. Eddie and boy. Eddie and Richie. Richie and Eddie. Richie loves Eddie! His eyes meets Bill's. Without words they both glance at Eddie and then back at each other to confirm that they're on the same page. "Ohhhhhh."

"Care to share with the class?" Eddie demands, but Stan can't answer him. He's not gonna take this news any better than he'll take the first part. He turns to Bev and Mike. "What?!"

"Eddie, he can hear you!" Ben interrupts, and Stan's heart drops. It's bad enough that he has to hear his best friend acting like this, the fact that he totally has a crush on said friend is even worse.

He's about to approach the door again when Bev gasps. "You were talking before the movie! Did he know you knew?"

"Wha- You knew!?" Eddie shouts, and Stan can't blame him. "How!? Five hours ago we did not know you!" 

How did the new kid know before Stan?

Ben shrugs awkwardly. "I don't know, I just did."

Just knew? Stan didn't suspect anything from his best friend after months of having to hear those shitty jokes, and Ben just knew? That is fucking annoying.

"Wha..." Eddie says with an open mouth. "Okay. Raise your hand if at any point before Richie smiled at Henry Bowers' cousin, the thoughts 'Richie Tozier is gay' crossed your mind!" 

To Stan's annoyance, several hands raise in the air, and none of them are his own.

"Went!" Maggie bursts. "Sharon!"

"Was it really that hard?"

"Yes!"

Oh come on! 

Stan sneaks away from his distracted parents to walk towards the other Losers, sans Ben, Eddie, and Richie for obvious reasons. 

"Shit." Bill crosses his arms.

"I'm talking to Eddie." Bev tells them, and they all look at her.

"Are you sure?" Stan asks. "Maybe he just needs time to cool off."

"He's acting like a total dumbass." Bev rolls her eyes. "Someone's gotta knock some sense into him."

"Fair enough." She walks away and Stan hopes for the best. If he's right, and he refuses to be so blind to any of his friends' sexualities from now on, then Eddie should be able to get past all the shit his mom spoon fed him for Richie's sake at least. 

He doesn't want to know how that conversation is going, and so glances towards the closet Richie is hiding behind.

"I-I know it's s-su-suprising." Bill says, looking downcast. Stan nods, but Mike squeezes his arm.

"This isn't a good town, Bill." Mike tells him tenderly. "It's not your fault he didn't tell you. He's just scared."

"W-w-we have t-to be th-there for him." Bill says with a determination in his eyes. "Pr-prove that we-we'll always l-love him."

Mike smiles softly. "It's okay, Bill. I know you'll do anything to protect the people you care about." They stare at each other, ignoring Stan, or maybe they just forgot that he's there, to find comfort in each other.

Stan looks at them with narrow eyes.

...

Gay?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now on the next main chapter... *yay*.
> 
> Tell me the title wouldn’t be an amazing band name. (Not counting the parenthesis... Maybe counting the parenthesis.)


	4. Arlene and the School of Will They/Won't They

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alright. Let's develop Arlene Fucking Hanscom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I wanted to do an Alt. POV as I wrote the original chapter, but then literally only five people commented on that. I guess all the comments from the Richie gets outed chapters spoiled me, and I literally took days to reply simply out of brattiness before realizing I was being stupid. And then enough time passed for me to be like, 'Yeah, I should just work on the next chapter.' But then I got an idea and I realized... This was gonna be fun.

**Arlene's POV**

Seeing her future son walking towards the school, Arlene braces herself for whatever It is going throw at her boy, and just has to hope Ben doesn't yell at any random underaged passerby along the way.

A shot of a turtle has her momentarily forget what she was thinking about, but the movie focuses more on Ben as he looks around the room and less on the turle. Still, she should probably stay weary of it.

As he passes the projector, there's the sound of bell ringing, and it changes to a not-so-empty classroom as kids leave.

**"Wake up, fatass."**

Arlene steams as random boys hit her child over the head, and though she wants to say something, she's a grown women and morally can't. But that doesn't mean she has to disapprove when Bev says, "Oh, fuck off."

Arlene smirks a bit, but then Richie says. "Is that Tony Blanchett? I can almost guarantee he does not grow up half as cool Ben does." 

What? "Fucking dumbass." 

Tony Blanchett. Fuck. 

Looking over at Ben, she sees that he has no reaction to the name. Maybe he's just focusing on his friends' loyalty. Or did he just not pay attention when she was telling him about Kyle's family? Or last name? Well, that's not right. She didn't raise him to ignore her- More important matters! 

Why would Kyle's son be so cruel? Does Kyle know about this behavior? And if this is in the future, why hasn't this behavior been corrected? Unless Ben didn't tell on him, so Arlene wouldn't know. Some of the decisions these kids make...

"Shit!" She snaps out of her thoughts just in time to see a glimpse of Pennywise's shadow, but it's quickly shown to be a fake out. 

"We're already friends." Bev notes. "Summer school?" 

"I don't need it, it's just fun." Ben shrugs, and Arlene beams proudly knowing no other kid here, or probably the town because it's so strange, would do that. The bewildered look Maggie gives him... "I didn't know I was gonna get... Adventurous." He was gonna say friends.

"Dweeb." Richie teases. Maybe that's why Tony was like that. Just friendly teasing, even if it doesn't seem friendly. Arlene has certainly had worst encounters with her sisters growing up.

It's just that she hates her sisters though.

**"Oh. Those guys are definitely not my buddies."**

He doesn't mention their connection. Maybe it's not Tony then. That would be such a relief, because Arlene just wants to fucking move on and things just keep getting in the way. First the first man who makes her feel like she isn't betraying her husband lives across the country, then after a year she moves to be with him and somehow _this_ happens, and now his son might be a bully to her son.

They should have kept things long distanced.

She tries to reason with herself, maybe it really wasn't her new boyfriend's son. Or maybe the other boy is Kyle's other son! Okay, Arlene needs to stop thinking about this.

She uneasily watches as they converse. She's still pretty sure Bev likes Bill, and normally she wouldn't think twice about anyone else's romance, especially when she knows them as middle schoolers for the most part, but anyone can tell just by looking at Ben that his feelings haven't been shaken twenty eight years from now. And Arlene gets that they could still be friends, she just doesn't want her son to get hurt.

**"You actually thought I could like someone who's fat and gross and disgusting like you."**

_What did she just say?_ Arlene begins turn to her, more out of shock then anything, but Andrea gestures for her to stop. She knows the other woman seems to feel responsible for the kids, but she shouldn't be defending-

"It's Pennywise." Richie says without a shred of doubt in his voice. Oh yeah.

Stan's eyes shift around the other kids. "We didn't already know that? I thought the shadow made it obvious."

"It better be." Arlene crosses her arms, before realizing that she kinda just wished It on her child. "Wait! Not that- I mean-" The orange light from the screen blindsides her. It is on fire. "Run!" He runs.

"Oh my god." Bev quivers at the sight of the deformed image of herself that Pennywise took. Ben runs though the halls, but when he makes it to the front door, it's fucking locked. Like, with an actual lock and chain.

"Who locks a school from the inside out?" Arlene shouts. Looking at the other parents to answer her question, and yeah maybe she's still glaring, all she's met with is weak shrugs in response.

It's okay, it's fine. Ben lives til he's forty. Ben will be okay. 

He runs to the locker, and gets in one. A look at the door after it closes shows all kinds of cruel things written on it. Things bullies write. Bullies she might be bringing her son to live with.

Ben checks to make sure Pennywise isn't anywhere in sight before taking out a piece of paper. He shifts back, and Arlene catches sight of one the posters from that band he loves so much.

He is not safe in that locker.

**"That's not the real Beverly. Beverly would never say anything like that. She'd never say that."**

If she could swaddle him up like a baby she would.

"You're right, I would never." Bev declares as she rushes to pull him into a hug. And all Ben does is murmur little, 'I know,'s into her shoulder. Normally, Arlene would smile at the show of friendship, but she doesn't this time.

She just doesn't want him to get hurt.

Is she gonna have to dump the only reason they moved here?

The other kids make room so that Bev can sit next to him. Okay, okay, maybe they can work something out, somehow. Both of them seem relatively mature for... twelve. This can be okay.

**"Kiss me, Fat Boy."**

"Fuck!" Arlene shouts before she can stop herself. She let herself get surprised by It like a rookie.

He falls out of the locker, and It taunts him as he crawls on the floor, as if her poor boy is petrified with fear. Ben yells out the names of the other kids to prove that he's not alone. Not just Bev. Arlene hasn't seen him put that much faith in anyone, let alone seven people since David's death. Not even her.

Pennywise finally stops his games and makes the move to eat him. Arlene abandons all preservation and let's herself scream. Ben is up and running. Miraculously, he bumps into a janitor opening a door at just the right moment and it cuts back to Ben as an adult, looking sad. She wishes she could make him feel better somehow. 

The movie cuts to Beverly sitting on a staircase. She and Ben start talking, and his feelings are so clear that Arlene can't just let herself enjoy the nice moment being shown for the first time in awhile. Especially when Bev pulls out the sweet poem he wrote for her, and of course mistakes it for Bill's. 

She can't protect him, can she?

Wait, what is Ben's token supposed to be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clear things up, I've never seen the miniseries, but I have seen (don't judge me) Nostalgia Critic's review on it, and he said Ben's shitty relative were his step family! So I used that. I'm pretty sure they were actually his cousins, but it's already been written so oh well then.
> 
> I think I'm more of a pantser than anything. To be fair, how am I supposed to plot this? They watch the movie. Done. As this goes on I just bring up ideas I make up on the fly and this grew way bigger than I could've guessed.


	5. Bill and the Thing (Spider-Head Thing)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And again! Spider head! I already knew how weird this movie sounds, why am I focusing on this?
> 
> Spider head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Bill yelling at Eddie, it's hard, but I kind of wanted to really highlight both of their mindsets in that scene. So... Alt. POV!!!

**Bill's POV**

**"I'd still be alive if it wasn't for you, Bill."**

"Fuck you." Stan shouts as the words hit Bill like bullets, remembering how he thought of Bill making him take that oath as he- he-

Ben's screaming at It carves more words into his stomach, only being seen through the mirror. It brings the knife to Ben's throat, causing both his mother and Bev to scream in reality, and Bill's not even there to try to save him, even if he'll fail. 

But Bev does it for him, picking up that spear she saved him and Richie with earlier, and smashing the glass, and saving Ben. 

Wow, Bev is just the best, isn't she?

Something is happening with the Stan head, and he asks a stunned Richie what, but then something breaks skin, and there's the answer. Slowly, more of those things force it's way out of him, and seems like it really hurts. God even from the eyes. They all watch on in grotesque horror, and Mrs. Uris begins to cry.

"Oh my god!" Richie shouts as the head finishes growing out fucking legs. "Oh my god!" 

**"You gotta be fucking kidding me."** Bill has never related to his childhood friend so much, especially as the head starts laughing.

And then it runs at them. "God, I hate spiders!" 

After a frantic chase, Bill hits It past an opening, but that proves to be a stupid mistake anyway because now they don't know where It is. Richie sees Eddie petrified in the corner, and goes over to comfort him.

Oh god, Bill remembers how he used to think Richie saw him as a little brother figure before shit hit the fun. Ew. But their moment is cut when they notice something and look up.

**"Oh, there he is."**

Georgie shrieks loudly. What happens next is too quick because next thing he's trying to pull off Stan's spider head off of Richie, who's screams attract the others from the other room.

Bill isn't strong enough to get it off of him, Eddie is petrified in the corner, and the rest are left banging on the other side of the door. The last time he saw himself this frantic that kid died. Oh god, not Richie. He already lost Stan, he's not sure he can take losing another friend. 

Bill holds Georgie close to his chest as all hell breaks loose, and both Mrs. Uris and Maggie end up sobbing into their husband's arms.

Thankfully, he spots a knife, and tells Eddie to get it as Richie screams for his life. But Eddie doesn't fucking move, and Bill can't get it but Eddie's not doing anything, and Stan's head is getting really close to biting Richie's face off like It bit off Georgie's arm, and that little boy, and that little girl. And Bill's not gonna be strong enough to hold It back forever, just like he wasn't strong enough to break through the mirror glass-

And then the head is stabbed. Oh thank god for Ben! Bill sighs in relief. And thank god for Bev for saving Ben. He stabs It several more times, each time eliciting inhuman shrieks from the creature, blood floating upwards until finally he stops, It lets go of Richie, and Bill chucks it across the room and against the wall.

He must have thought the thing was dead or something, in the present Bill certainly did, except he forgot that this is It, and Stan's spider-head crawls away, slowly at first but then It scurries away much quicker.

Shit, Richie at least seems okay, but then Bill focuses his emotions on Eddie.

**"Georgie's dead, the kid's dead, Stan- Stanley's dead, you want Richie too!? You want Richie too!?"**

"Dude!" Richie glares at Bill, as if to tell him that his protective streaks don't justify screaming at Eddie in his books.

"I'm sorry!" Bill exclaims, feeling like he could start crying at any moment. Oh god, what if he already is? And in front of everyone, everyone who knows that he's put everyone he loves and cares about in danger and he can't even protect them. "I'm sorry, I just- everyone's getting hurt, and it's like I can't do anything, or-"

The worst part is that he knows where his future self is coming from. Richie was in serious danger, and while Bill alone couldn't fully save him, if Eddie just snapped out of it... They're all lucky Ben got the door open, or however he found his way in, because they would have been screwed if he hadn't. 

"Hey, it's okay." Mike says soothingly, taking Bill's hand in his. Their eyes meet for a lingering second before Bill has to look away, knowing he doesn't deserve to be shown such blind friendship after all he's done to the people he supposedly cares about.

As for Richie, he avoids eye contact with him before taking off and hugging his terrified mother. Maggie isn't supposed to be the one who cries, Richie and Ben aren't supposed to nearly die around the same times, and Bill isn't supposed to be the one who yells at his friends when they're down.

Stan follows after Richie's example and goes to his mother as well, only reminding Bill of the pain he caused for making Stan take that stupid oath that made him- made him do that. 

But Eddie breaks his heart by admitting how scared he was and Bill is the worst fucking friend in the world because damn it, he gets what his future self means when he reminds Eddie that It feeds off things like fear.

His future self finally backs off with Mike putting a hand in his shoulder. He wonders if it feels the same way his hand feels now because along with Georgie in his arms, that's one of the only things keeping him together right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think both of their biggest character flaws/insecurities come to a head in this scene, which are Eddie not being brave/thinking he’s weak and Bill blaming himself when others are hurt/a lot of people have died so far. So they both get the scene.


	6. Daniel and the Devil's Card

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens with Daniel and Grace when she pulls Hide and Seek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this story is for all my WTM fics now. Cool? Cool. Also, I kinda stopped summarizing towards the end, just because Daniel gives more of a shit about Grace than the movie and it felt like a chore to keep up with the summaries.

**Daniel's POV**

Stevens tells them all the time. Close to midnight, where she would draw the card that totally ruined his night, and hers too. Obviously. This fucking family. 

Nobody looks happy at this news at least, except for Grace, and even she falters seeing everyone's- Oh wait, no, Emilie is really fucking excited, and it lulls Grace into a false sense of security. She'll feel so fucking secure until her new best friend fails to shoot her twice. Or was it three times?

"Yeah, she's a drug addict." Daniel feels the need to explain.

"I don't care." Grace murmurs, resting her head in her hands, looking stressed out as all fuck. He thinks that maybe he should tell her that Emilie being a fucking idiot actually helps her cause at several points, but honestly that might not be as comforting as he thinks.

Dad leads them all to that stupid game room where they dragged Aunt Helene's husband off to so many years back, and also fifteen minutes ago. God, he hates even being near that place. In the movie, Grace is in awe of all the hunting gear and animal heads they hang on the walls, but next to him she looks ready to throw up her wedding day breakfast.

And they never did get rid of that cabinet he hid Alex in as children. Some things never change, at least not when you're a Le Domas. Your last name is always on the death room door. Daniel never had the balls to ask, and if he did he doubts he'd ever get an answer, but he didn't know if Aunt Helene's husband knew about the game or not, like Grace,

She stops and stares down a picture of the fucker who started all of this. Victor Fucking Le Domas. The asshole who figured an assload of money was worth killing an innocent bride or groom every now and again. 

Speaking of great great grandpapa, they tell her to sit down, ask some boring questions to hold the whole thing off, and finally Dad goes blah blah blah blah blah. He's heard it all a million times. Grace hasn't though, and she's on the edge of her seat, listening to Dad's stupid, stupid speech. 

"Your family fucking sucks, Daniel." She says as Dad passes around the fucking box.

Daniel nods, sighing. "Yeah. At this point, tell me something I don't know."

"Who agrees to kill people for money?" Grace asks as her movie self gets the box and looks at it.

"I didn't choose to be a Le Domas." Daniel says. "But we don't deserve to live more than you. I know that much."

She doesn't respond to that.

Dad places the blank card in the box and puts it next to Grace. Daniel braces himself for the disaster that's about to come next. But first Fitch is himself, and Grace asks another question, and god why does this have to take so long when he knows what's coming.

**"It says hide and seek. Are we really gonna play that?"**

It hurts to hear the second time, even as he was expecting it. 

And Christ, he hates his fucking family. He should've turned against them as soon as Grace pulled that card. They don't deserve to breathe, not even Daniel himself. Maybe Alex, but not at the cost at everything their family has done. For a moment, all he can feel is a burning hatred for almost everyone besides Alex and Grace bearing the Le Domas name.

And then Grace starts sobbing around the time Dad and Alex start talking about rules.

Daniel looks at her desperately. He doesn't know what to do, and he wants to help her. He just doesn't know how. In the game, it was active. He could give her a head start or free her from her bondages. 

Daniel doesn't know comfort. Charity never cried in all the time he's known her, and whenever his little sister got too emotional it certainly wasn't his problem. But he guesses he never actually cared as much back then. It kind of sucks. Caring. He doesn't even care about what's going on in the movie.

"I didn't ask for this." Grace shakes her head. "God, I just- I just wanted a fucking wedding, and a fucking marriage, and a fucking family. Instead I get caught up in a fucking murder movie, where the people who I thought were gonna be my family try to kill me."

"I'm sorry." He says weakly. 

It's pathetic, but he doesn't know what else to say. He feels bad, he really does. She doesn't deserve this. Since Alex first told him he was seeing someone, all Daniel could think was that she deserved better, even before he met her or learned that Alex didn't fucking tell her anything.

"I'm gonna die." Grace says as they all begin picking out their weapons, that creepy fucking song playing.

"No, you're not." Daniel says before he can stop himself.

"No, I'm not-" Grace sighs, trying to dry her eyes. "I can't survive a group of people hunting me with weapons and shit. Getting through foster care isn't the same as getting through Game of Thrones."

They had less than an hour before dawn when Daniel woke up here. She'd made it so far without his help. Surely... Surely she could make it less than an hour. Alex- Alex got free didn't he? He was alive to help her out.

"Listen, Grace." He starts. How the fuck did he end up playing the motivational speaker? "Speaking from the short term future, you go through more shit than anyone should ever have to."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Grace asks, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"But-" Daniel continues. "You survive. All on your own, you survived so long. I don't know how the night ends, but you sure as hell put up a fight. If anyone could outlive the Le Domas dynasty, it's you."

Grace sniffles, but seems to consider his words.

"Did you help me?" She asks unsurely.

Daniel swallows hard. "Not... At first." Grace's back straightens, like she's afraid of him. "But only because my family would die if you didn't."

"Bullshit." Grace says under her breath.

"Clearly my family has some real connections to Satan!" Daniel points out. "And besides, I still didn't want you hurt, I just... I just wasn't going to stop it at first, and then as the night went on I realized how fucking much my family didn't deserve to live. So I did help... Eventually."

"Eventually." Grace repeats. "Eventually."

"It's family, Grace." Daniel groans. "I hate them, but it's family."

"Yeah.... I think I might be better off without one." She nods and he restrains from cursing himself when he remembers that she was a fucking foster kid. "Wait, what about you?"

"What about me?" He asks, eyebrows pinched. 

"Would you die, too?" 

"Of course." He doesn't see why Grace would think he wouldn't, but she's looking at him in awe. As though seeing something new and thought-provoking. He's about to ask her what the fuck she's on about when the song ends.

**"Ready or not... Here I come."**

"Here we go." Grace sighs. Daniel may have no idea what happens when this movie is over, but for the next hour or so their fates are sealed and fucked.


	7. Five and the Dance Party of a Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few days ago I decided on a whim to add this to my birthday updates. It's not long, like a quarter length of the actual chapter. I think that'll be the standard moving forward since the episode chapters are so long. 1k... Fine. Maybe 2k next time but this I just finished at this episode length so....
> 
> I wanna get back into the swing of doing these things, I did it a total of one times for my last movie. Then again I never really *had* the swing, I mean... five alts for twenty seven chapters... I don't know, if I don't have at least ten for two seasons than I don't have the swing.

**Five's POV**

God, his siblings are idiots. 

A dance party. 

He sets aside the apocalypse because their future selves don't know about that yet. He sets aside this occurring at their Dad's funeral because even if Five probably has less bones to pick with the old man than his siblings, he gets it. But just on principle, a dance party? Seriously?

(He doesn't remember impromptu dance parties in donut shops where that nice waitress would turn up the jukebox and they'd just run around like fools. He doesn't remember hijacked dance lessons when Dad was away. He doesn't remember anything of the sort.)

Klaus and Allison follow in the leads of the onscreen idiots, proving that they are indeed the same people more or less. But then Ben copies their behavior. Ben! And-

Well, at least he's happy.

They take their dancing to the floor behind them. Vanya wants to join their siblings. He can see it. She wants to be as free and idiotic and odd as the rest of their siblings. Five remembers her book. She won't though. Even if Future Vanya is dancing, she won't. She's scared she'll stand up and get rejected or laughed away the way she's been her entire life.

So Five makes a decision. He grabs Vanya's hand and leads her to the others, if only to make up for all the shit she's been through. Not that they've been through less shit, but at least now she can experience the good parts- if that's what this is called.

Allison takes a page out of his book and forces Luther to join them. Somehow he looks just a little bit stupid than the rest of them. Five assumes watching them run around like weirdos awakens something in Diego. Some intrinsic need to be an idiot. That being said, even Five can't deny that Diego is surprisingly good at dancing.

Not that that matters, this is all stupid.

Thankfully it's over quickly enough, everyone getting interrupted by loud thunder. Five jumps back to his seat in an instant, need to memorize every last detail renewed. He hears his siblings return back to their seats, momentarily getting annoyed by Luther blocking his line of sight as he walks past him to his seat.

This temporal anomaly/miniature black hole, could it have anything to do with the apocalypse? Something they thought would go away but came back and came back with a vengeance. Or maybe something foreign, alien, and because they're idiots they didn't know what to do with it.

A million theories swirl around in his head in a second, a gift he's always had, thinking quickly and concisely. That being said, whatever pops up in his head, it certainly isn't an old man deaging into himself. 

**"Shit."**

His eyes widen, mouth falling open a bit but he closes it quickly. Five had not been anticipating himself showing up in this. He wasn't a part of the apocalypse, his body wasn't in the rubble, and this is supposed to show their failure.

Does he fail? His stomach turns at the thought. Instantly he thinks of his father's scowl when he was disappointed, the tips of his frown only ever so slightly more down, a telltale sign of not being good enough.

If not for his friend, Five would have failed everyone, his family, the world, himself. His own survival would have been for absolutely nothing. 

"That's you." Luther says unnecessarily. "And you're... You!"

"Noted." He says sarcastically, trying not to feel too bitter.

"Are you making a sandwich?" Klaus asks annoyingly. So everyone still gets on his back about the marshmallows? Well Five doesn't fucking care because he's known hunger for too long to fail at hiding something so trivial. 

This would be a lot easier if he was watching on his own, it's true. But when that girl offered him a chance to be with his siblings again, what else was he supposed to say to that? Surely she must've known he'd only have one answer to that.

"I've been hungry." Five says quietly, trying to push away the years of starvation, or even the food he ate with that girl he never got the name of so he wouldn't- His alternative self asks a very important question.

**"The 24th." "Of what?" "March."**

That would give him eight days. Not great but if anyone knows how to work with not great, it's Five. God knows he's dealt with a lot worse. "The 24th. That I can work with."

"What do you mean 'work with'?" 

Five rolls his eyes. It's should be obvious. What else would he be talking about? "My future self. He has time."

"Time for what?" Luther insists like an idiot.

"The apocalypse." Five says. "Has your tiny brain forgotten already?" Forgive him for not liking the hell he's lived through for the past few years being so easily disregarded. 

"Okay, there's no need to-"

"Pay attention!" He snaps.

Five barely understands what this version of himself is saying himself. He gets it better than his siblings do, even with four years of education ahead of him, who look downright confused. And-

This doesn't add up. At all. Where did he learn all this from? The deaging might explain why he doesn't look as hungered as Five does now, even after weeks with his friend, but what about the suit? He's done the best he could with what he's gotten, but nothing like that. All signs point in one direction.

Maybe he just found one hell of a textbook in the future and it also happened to come with a sewing guide. Somehow Five doubts it.

**"Forty five years. Give or take."**

"Forty five." Allison whispers.

"It would appear." Five says, refusing to show emotion. Forty five years in the apocalypse. Give or take. Four were hard enough. He can't deny the overwhelming relief he felt that it was over when he finally got out, thinking about staying there for that long....

Or maybe not. Chances are he must've gotten a visit from his friend later down the line, or if not her than someone else who could do something similar and helped him in different ways.

"How old are you now?" Diego asks, and Five's glad for the distraction.

"Seventeen. Give or take. This is an... alternative scenario." Five explains. "Like I said, I met someone who offered me a way back. She sent me to you guys at my age."

"So what I'm hearing is it was a girl who trapped us here." Klaus says, missing the point as always, a feat he accomplishes so much Five knows even after years of not being around him. "Never doubt Allison."

Diego and Luther go back to arguing over menial topics as soon as there's bait laid out, prompting Five to leave. His shoulders sag at that being his reunion with his family, especially given three of his siblings hugging each other over him in this timeline, but he gets it. If his family wants to squabble about meaningless shit than Five's better off fixing things on his own. 

As always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Hamilton was obviously great. My mom went to a meeting and came back with more cake, also she wants to start an orphanage in the Philippines (where she's from) and I really want that for her. I'm taking advantage of the free trial to rewatch Endgame and I keep imaging a WTM scenarios so apparently this is how my mind permanently works. 
> 
> I wonder if anyone's reading that out of context? Again, sorry this chapter wasn't too long!


End file.
